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Paul Thayer, 

My Dear Nephew:-* 

fiuring the past few years I have become 
arsecially Interested in the history of my own family, I regret yery much 
that I did not commence its study during the lifetime of my father whose 
strong mind was a veritable mine of old time memories, the geneological 
memoranda I have gathered from various sources, that of the Princes prin- 
cipally from a pamphlet entitled, 

ELDER JOHN PRINCE 
Of Hull Mass. 
A Memorial, Biographical and Geneological, 

By Cteorge Prince, of the 6th, Generation, 

The Spauldings I gathered from a large history of the family 
published several years ago; the Bryants and Warrens from several sources, 
fhe Princes, Spauldings, Bryants and Warrens complete your geneology on 
your mother's side. Your father will no doubt be able to furnish that on 
your paternal side. It is an honorable record of which you may be proud 
and to which it is my earnest prayer your life may add new luster, I take 
the liberty of adding some pictures which may at least give variety if not 
value to the sketch. 

Sincerely your uncle, 



Bloomington, Illinois, 
July 1, 1902. 



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"^e tiny sparkling lustres of the land 
Pall one by one from fame's neglecting hand; 
Letheeun gulfs receive them as they fall 
And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all," 

The little town of Hull at the entrance of Boston Harbor, though 
the smallest In the Commonwealth, is full of interesting history, vrnwrit- 
ten, save here and there fragments that have been preserved to us by a 
few antiquarians, 

Although we may not be peirmitted to go back to the old Norse legends 
thkt, perhaps rather obscurely, point to this outlying promontojry as the 
"Krossaness" or burial place of Thorvald in the year 1004; nor to the 
early voyages of the Biscayan fishermen to these waters in the sixteenth 
century, which latter records may be still hidden from us, mouldering 
perhaps in some garret on the coast of Normandy, there can be but little 
doubt but that those English ships sent out by Gorges from Somerset as 
early as 1608-9, to fish at Monhegan <ind St. Oeorges (the "Pentacst 
harbor" of Weymouth) made occasional visits to this fishing ground, those 
Somerset fishermen seen there by John Smith in 1614, and whom 3ov, Brad- 
ford writes, "fished many years at Monhiggon" , were noble generous hearted 
men. "^hey supplied the starving Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621 with food and 
clothing; they adopted and christened that noble Indian chief "Voratigon" , 
giving him the English name of "6apt, John Somerset." He it was that 
greeted the Piloirim Fathers with the cheering words, "Much welcome. 



(2) 



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Englishmen," the Pilgrims spelt his name, "Samoset" owing to the imper- 
fect pronunciation of their Indian guest. 

The first authentic notices we have of permanent settlements at 
Hull date ahout 1621-2 and again when Oldham, Conant, Lyford, and others 
resided there, built houses and had religious services, 

^here must have been quite a respectable settlement at ull as 
early as 1628, for in Gov, Bradford* s accotint of the apportionment of 
the expenses incurred in arresting Morton of Perry Mount, which amounted 
to 12 pounds, 7 shillings, Plymouth paid 2 pounds, lOshillings, and Natoc- 
cot 1 pound, 10 shillings, more than half as much as Plymouth, In 1R44 
it was incorporated under the name of Hull, It then had twenty houses and 
a settled minister, the Rev, Marmaduke Mathews, 

The original record of the first division of house lots and lands 
is lost, A copy of it made in 1657 is in existence; it gives the names of 
John Prince, Benj, Bosworth, Nicholas Baker and Thomas Loring, who were 
among the first settlers of Hingham, having drawn town lots there in 1635, 
The'^e were also Thos, Jones, John Benson, Henry Ohamberlyn. Thos, Chaffee, 
Eamuel Ward and Abraham Jones, who had also drawn land at Hingham, They 
urged John Prince to become their pastor but he compromised the matter by 
accepting the office of "Ruling Elder", 

The yet lonwritten history of Hull I leave to her future historians. 
These few pages will be devoted to a partial history of her first Ruling 
Elder and religious teacher, ^Ider John Prince, 



(3) 



# 



There are many persons who have little genius or fondness for the 
details of pedigree, unless they can boast of royal descent or Norman 
"blood. To such it is no source of pride to be able to trace their descent 
from some one or more of those grand old Puritans or Pilgrim Fathers whose 
patents of nobility were won from the virgin soil and salt waters of Amer- 
ica- who planted the seeds of religious and political liberty on the new 
shores of the Western Continent, If this little history should fall into 
the hands of anj such indifferent descendant of the pioneers of New Eng- 
land, he can pass it on to some of his children or grand children, who, 
perchance, may treasure it more highly. 

1. John Prince, bom in 1610, was a student at Oxford University, 
England, under the tuition of his maternal grandfather, Rev, John Tolder- 
bxri-y, and was expected to succeed his father, Rev, John Prince, as Rector 
of East Shefford 6hurch in Berkshire, bu^ his ideas of church government 
conflicting with those of Archbishop Laud, he was obliged to flee from 
his displeasure and persecution. 

In the year 1633, he left the delightful classic grounds of Oxford 
for the wilds of America. He is first mentioned in the records of Csunbridge, 
Mass. , as an owner of two lots of land, in 1634- a memorandum to which says, 
"removed to* Hull". He was made a freeman March 4th* 1635, 

Having formed an acquaintance with the "Hobarts" , at €harlestown in 
I6r<5, he, with his neighbor Jona. Bosworth, Joined their colony and went 
with them to Hingham at the time of the general dispersion from Boston, 
163F. 

Nearly all the historical genealogical notices of Elder John Prince 



(4) 



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# 



of Hull are conflicting, confused and erroneous, resulting from the re- 
merkaljly coincident that there were four separate and distinct persons 
living at the same time in Hull, Hingham and Boston by the name of John 
Prince, farmer and Savage each mix them up and confoiind them badly, and 
their errors have been copied by most other writers tmtil they have be- 
come almost chaotic. 

To disentangle this snarl of errors has been the study and agree- 
able task of the writer, in order to preserve the precious items of family 
history which were fast becoming obscured by age and misapplication. Much 
patient sifting of Peter Hobart»s entries of births and marriages and a 
careful comparison with various probate records, wills and old family jour- 
nals was necessary, as well as a careful examination of the town records 
of Hull, Hingham, Boston and Cambridge, in order to unravel the web of 
errors and mystery that existed. 

Elder John Prince of Hull, the subject of this history, died at Hull, 
August, 16, 1676, leaving his widow Ann and eight children,- See Probate 
record vol, 6, p, 128, 

John Prince of Hingham, who settled there in 1659, about the date 
of Elder Prince's leaving for Hull, died there Feb, 1690 leaving his widow 
Margaret and three married daughters; Mary, wife of Joseph Joy; Sarah, rife 
of Thomas Bayer, and Beborah, wife of William King. - See Probate record 
vol, 8, p. 25, 

John Prince of Boston, whose wife was Bliaa Collier of Hull, died 
in Boston Nov, 1670, probably without issue,- *ee Probate record vol, 7, 
P. 92. 



(5) 



# 



John Prince, cf Boston again, whose wife was Esther Ghilld, lived 
in Boston in 1700, - See Probate record vol, 85, p. 491, Thus "confusion 
worse confounded", was likely to and did, creep into histories of Blder 
Prince's family, 

Fortimately we have one tmerring data to start from in tracing the 
history of John Prince of Hull, viz, , the name of the mother of his chil- 
dren, *lice Honor, and a correct list of his sons together with other im- 
portant data given "by his grand-son, Rev, Thos, Prince, the annalist. 
In prosecuting these researches I have been able to recover many new facts 
and incidents which can not be otherwise than interesting to his descend- 
ants as well as valuable historically to all those who are interested in 
the study of early times. Below is a reprint of the brief family record 
made by the lev, Thomas Prince, It was written in 1728, and is printed 
in the Mass, Hist, ften, Reg,, vol, 5, p, 378, It says:- 

"Mr. John Prince, ruling elder of the church of Hull, N,E, , was 
the eldest son of Rev, Mr, John Prince, rector of Bast Shefford in 
Berkshire, Eng, , in the reign of King James 1, and Charles 1, of which 
there was this remarkable- tb-at tho he was one of the conforming Puritans 
of that day who greatly longed for a further reformation, and had married 
Elizabeth, granddaughter of Dr. Tolderbury or Toldervery D. D, of Oxford, 
by whom he had four sons and seven daughters, all grew upt yet all of the 
children proved conscientious non-conformists, even while their parents 
lived but without any breach of amity or affection. And thus they contin- 
ued pretty near together, till the furious and cruel archbishep Laud dis- 
persed them, and drove their eldest son with so many others to this 



(6) 



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country in the early times of the Mass, Colony, where, though he was a 
young gentlemen of liberal education, yet, thinking that he had not made 
sufficient progress in learning for the ministry, he applied himself to 
husbandry; married Mrs, Alice Honor, by whom he had seven sons and two 
daughters, and died Aug, 16, 1676, in the 66th« year of his age greatly 
lamented. The sons, as they grew up, took to the sea, John, the oldest, 
died at Hull; Joseph, at C^uebec; Job was lost in the Channel of England: 
Samuel died at Middleboro; Benjaifain at Jamaica; Isaac at Boston and 
fhomas, the youngest, at Barbadoux," 

By the aid of this indisputable evidence, and also Elder Prince's 
own last will and testament and other documents, together with the diary 
of the Rev, Peter Hobart of Hingham, who baptized all his children, we 
are able to complete and perfect the family record, and correct the 
many errors now existing which have crept into previous records from 
many causes, 

The date of Elder John Prince's marriage to Alice Honor of Water- 
town, the mother of his children, was May, 1637, the probable date of 
his permanent location at Hull, Her pedigree is not known. Her grandson, 
the Rev. Thomas pRince, calls her "Mrs," but it is conceded that such 
prefix was often used in those times as a title of respect and venera- 
tion bestowed upon single ladies of eminent character and standing, 
John Prince and Alice Honor had evidently been acquainted for several 
years, since 1633, when they were together at Watertown; she died about 
1668, His second wife and widow, Anna Barstow, then the wife of lilliajn 
Barstow, was also at Watertown in 1634, Barstow moved to ficituate 



(7) 



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atout 1649, where his daughter Martha was "bom in 1655, who afterwards 
became the wife of Elder John Prince's fourth son Samuel in 1674, Elder 
Prince married the widow Barstow of Scituate about 1670, His youngest 
child, Thomas was then but twelve years of age. 

In the will, which we give, verbatim, below, it will be seen that 
the names of the sons are the same as those given in the above record of 
Rev, fhomas Prince, except Benjamin, who died, unmarried, before his 
father, fhis will, which is on file in the Probate office of Suffolk 
Coiinty, is in Elder Princes own handwriting. It is written in his usual 
plain, legible hand, excepting the last clause and si^ature, which must 
have been added a short time before his death, as his writing had then 
become tremulous, showing the change that was fast falling upon him. 

Last fill and Testament of Elder John Prince of Hull, Mass, -who 
died Aug, 16, 1676, 

"It being the divine appointment of the most High good and souver- 
aign 3od that all men must dye, and yet that none shall know the time 
when, therefore have I, John Prince Senior of Hull in the Massachusetts 
Colony in New England being now in my perfect sense and having perfect 
use of my reason though but weak in body made this my last will and tes- 
tament this nineth day of May in the year of our lord one thousand six 
htmdred and seventy ai«, and therefore after the solemn conmitt*nce of 
my soul into the hands of God who gave it and my body to bee decently 
intered, conseming that small portion of outward estate the lord hath 
given me thus to dispose off it, 

"first that all my lawful debts be paid. 

"Secondly that for this year sixty six and in the year sixty 

(8) 



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seven (he intented to make these dates »76 and *77) the whole profittr 
off my whole estate by sea and land "bee to and for the use and "benefitt 
of my dearly beloved wife for her majmtaynance and my youngest, son Thom- 
as being yet under age; and because that Isaac Prince will be of age for 
himself this year seventy six that his mother my dearly beloved wife 
having as aforesaid the profitts of the whole estate because she may and 
my will is she should, and that he be clothed out of the profits of my 
estate as the rest of his brethren have been by me, eind that he then 
when he goith for himself he shall have a years dyett washing and lodging 
out of the income of my estate and the profits of his employ to and for 
his own behoof or profit as his other brethren have had, furthermore my 
will is concerning my youngest son thomas Prince yet under age that he 
live with his mother until the end of the year seventy eight and then in 
that year the other of my sons as John Joseph and Samuel Prince take care 
to see the estate so managed as their mother my beloved wife be main- 
tained emd their brother Thomas have his clothing and his years diet 
washing and lodging and his imploy and the profit of it for himself as 
all his brethven have had before time, 

"iPhese premices being performed by my beloved sons, John and Jos- 
eph Prince whom I constitute as executors of this my last will and tes- 
tament, that then my whole estate be equaly divided between all alike as 
namely John Prince Joseph Prince Elizabeth Prince wife to Josiah Loring 
Martha Prince now wife to Christopher fheaton, Job Prince, flamuel Prince, 
Isaac Prince and Thomas Prince to all of these alike as they may divide 



(9) 



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It amongst themselves or call any of their friends whom they may agree on 
for them to do it for them and if either of them shall strive or endeavor 
by any kink in law to get more than his equal share my will then is that 
he shall have no part of my estate but that it be equally divided amongst 
the rest, only that John Prince and Joseph Prince being executors may 
have something for payment as may be agreed on amongst them and their 
friends, 

"And lastly my will is that my beloved wife Anna Prince have the 
use of the north west room or end of the house as it now is furnished so 
long as she lives if she shall think good to live in the town and to have 
a cow kept in the pasture and my children to alow her two bushels of 
Indian com a piece a year and one bushel of malt and for my nett I will 
that it be made fit for service by either John or Samuel Prince and they 
to have the one half of the profit for the maintainence of it and the 
other half of the profit to my wifes maintainence while she lives and when 
she dieth to be equally divided as all the rest of my estate, 

"I also do will yt my beloved wife have and enjoy the western end 
of my house as long as she liveth if she continue in the town and yt the 
proper goods which was my wifes be hers after my death. 
Attested sufid sealed in the presence of us, 
Zachariah Whitman, fitness my hd, 

Nathsmiel Bosworth, John Prince. " 

Proved Oct, 18, lf576. Recorded vol. 6, p. 128. Inventory vol, 12 
p. 94- 315 potmds. 



(10) 



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Upon Elder Prince's arriral at Hlngham in 1635 he was granted a lot 
of leuid in "Broad-cove-medows,'* as per notes, p. 40 to Solomon Lincoln's 
address in 1835, 

Hiere is a deed, dated 1655, giren by Thos. and Nath'l, Josselyn 
of Hingham, to ieorge and Moses Oollyer, conveying a"lot of land border- 
ing OH the donmon of Hingham, containing three acres more or less as we 
bought it of John Prince of Hull." the Josselyms settled in Hingham in 
1637, about the time that Blder Prince and other Hingham settlers are sup- 
posed to have moved from Hingham to Hull, 

there is abundant evidence in the old mementoes of Hull that John 
Prince, their ruling elder, was held in great esteem by all his townsmen, 
fo him were referred the local disputes and differences of his neighbors, 
to him were confided the marriage settlements of wedded couples, «md the 
care of widow's and orphan's estates. He was recognized as a sagacious, 
intelligent and far-sighted man, which, together with his tolerant nature, 
made it possible for him to mediate between the most opposite elements in 
this incongruous society of men. In all sorts of local disputes, from a 
street broil to a church quarrel, his solution of the conflicting differ*- 
enees were submitted to without a murmur. In addition to his mediatorial 
acts were his ntimerous parish amenities incidental to his office of 
Ruling Blder of the church. He was a true gentleman of the old school, 
and he won this distinction, not merely from the fact that his ancestors 
were among the educated and influential, or as one who has mingled with 
men of learning and polished meinners all his life, but rather as one whose 



(11) 



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demeanor was so perfectly and naturally courteous and proper as to give 
him a meirked and decided preference among all classes. He had left behind 
him in the old world, family influences, exalted station and repose, and 
cast his lot among the wayfarers in the savage wilderness of the western 
world. He had a mine of wealth in rich hopes and confidence, aoid a strong 
reliance on the supporting arm of his Sod. He continued tor nearly thirty 
years to act as the ruling elder, teacher and shepherd of his little flock, 
the temporary ministers came and went,- Roger fionant, Mr, Lyford, Mr, tmlth, 
tfr. Mathews, and others- their beloved Elder was one of their own number 
and remained with them until his death. The ^v, tachariah Whitman, who 
came over with his parents in 1635 when but two and one half years old, 
afterwards graduated from Harvard and was ordained pastor of the church in 
1670, During the remaining six years of Elder Prince's life, those two 
heavenly messengers dwelt side by side, each devoted to the welfare of the 
little church by the sea. 

Although our Oxford student, who later became the first Ruling Elder 
of the Ohureh at HUH, was a non-conformist with fixed and positive relig- 
ious convictions, his sectarian views and affiliations were Mot in full 
accord with a majority of the Puritans of that time. He was not inclined 
to doctrinal disquisitions or to claim a preference for one particular 
creed over all othera, consequently he was without that austerity and 
apparent illilierality that marked the acts of some of the early Puritan 
settlers. His Quaker neighbors, the Chamberlyns, were cordially treated 
and equally at home in all the devotional exercises and social meetings at 



(12) 



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Hull, they, in full accord with their other neighbors, recognized the 
Ihiling Elder- as an exemplary and godly man, end rererenced him as a reliL 
able teacher and guide in things temporal and spiritual. 

This little church at Hull was, like that at Plymouth, blessed with 
a permanent "Ruling Elder" of remarkable endowments, bo apt to teach that 
he attended to all the other duties and works of a minister. The want of 
a pastor to administer the sacraments and baptisms were in a measure pro- 
Tided for by Mr, Hobart of Hingham, and the occasional visits of other 
neighboring ministers who alone had power to perform any of the ecclesias- 
tical or priestly prerogatives. 

Among the old Plymouth papers is a petition from John Prince and his 
neighbor, fieacon Nathaniel Bosworth of Hull, dated at Plymouth, J\ane 8, 
1671, It is written in Elder Prince's peculiar and forcible style, and re- 
plete with expressions of his strong trust in fiivine Providence, and his 
characteristic (Christian zeal. The following extracts will give an idea of 
the petition: - 

"fhe wise providence of the great guider of all men amd actions 
having so ordered, by his providence to bring me here at this time, where- 
in there hath been brough\under consideration that fishing design, at late 

years found out at 6ape Cod, for mackerel with nets, I would humbly 

intreat this honored court that I may without any offence present you so«e 

particulars.,,, My humble request is that your honorable court may 

not have or see just cause why our little town of Hull, though out of 
your jurisdiction, may not still enjoy the priviledges we have hitherto 



(13) 



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held, first because we were some of the first discoverers, and first 
bringers of it to light- and thirdly let me say with all humble- 
ness, that had it not been for some of us we believe it would not have been 
kept afoot to this time, for our friends in your patent after the first or 
second voyage had given it off again. .,,,,,,., but some of us beating out 
by evening there, and traveling on the shore at all times and seasons and 
so discovered the way to take them in the light as well as the dark nights, 
it had not been so certain a thing as it is now; or had we kept the one 
thing private it would have been a great obstruction. But we were open 
hearted to yours and told them what we knew, and we would hope that your 
honors would be so to us. ,,,.,,* Pray account it not a presumption but a 
humble request in behalf of that little town of ours which hath a great part 
of its livelihood by fishing. Signed, John Prince, Nath*l. Bosworth." 

In the 6th, vol. of the Mass, Oen, Heg. is a copy of another of his 
petitions presented to the Sen, Court at Boston, Max^h 5, 1675, which is 
copied almost literally as to spelling etc, , as follows:'- 

"To The Honored Oounsell Now Assembled at Boston, 
•The petition off your poore petitioners humbly showeth that whereas the 
Lord by his providence hath cast us to have our abode as inhabitants in 
this town of Hull in this Juncture of time wherein both this f^aee as well 
as the country is exposed to the wastinge ffury of the most barbarous 
heathen, which wee are sensable off, and therefore freely willingeto 
spend our care, our strength, yea we hope our very lives in, and for the 
defense of this place, and the country, yet being persons whose sole 



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employment is fishing, and soe at sea, having noe lands nor cattle to mayn- 
tayne ourselves or families, but what wee must have hitherto done by the 
blessing of Ood by our labors i)roduced from the sea, being therefore now 
commanded by our chief officer not to go forth on our imploy, desire then 
to know how wee and ours shall be mayntayned, they having a years provis- 
ion beforehand, wee none; they having cattle to give milk to their familyes 
in the summer, wee none; they having cattle and swine to kill for meat, wee 
none; so that we are like to be put to extremity, both we and ours, for 
they will not supply us. Therefore our humble request to the honored fioun- 
Sttll is that your honors would please to take our sadd Hondission into 
your Christian and fehari table consideration, that if we be constrained to 
leave our imploy and not go to sea, but bee kept to garrison the town, that 
when your Honors would be pleased to gratifie this our wee hope but reason- 
able request, that wee and ours may bee reasonably provided for, or liberty 
to follow our imploy, havinge not here but our persons, and some of us it 
may bee a house but nothinge to mayntayne Us but what our hands with dod*8 
blessing must bringe us in; and thila craving excuse for otir boldnesse, by 
troublinge your Honors at this juncture of time, wherein wee are sensible 
that you are pressed with many other more wighty affaires, hopeing and 
humbly desiringe that off your Clemency, you will attribute this our troul>- 
linge you to our present Urging necessity. Wee in all humblenesse desiringe 
the good Lord off Heaven, in this and all of your affayres to guide you. 
Wee take leave to rest, 

"Your Honours humble servants in all things to be commajided." 



(15) 



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This petition was signed "by John Prince, Joseph Prince, Samuel 
Prince, Isaac Prince and Christopher fheaton, five of Elder John's family 
and six of his neighbors. 

In 1660 Elder Prince was selected to "decide the controversy between 
Richard Stubhs and Sanmel Baker," 

Oct, 2, 1673, Joseph Howe of Boston, deeded to Elder Prince his 
estate, in trust, for his wife, widow Elizabeth Bunn of Hull, under the 
conditions of their marriage contract. 

Elder Prince's village house and lot of two acres was on the south- 
west slope of Gushing* s Hill, at the head of the lane now enclosed in the 
Cushing House and the orchard lot, the old well yet seen is supposed to be 
the Prince well, this house lot was bounded on the N,W, by Geo. Vlckerow's 
lot; S.E. by Nath'l. Bosworth and Nicholas Baker; N.E, by the Sound and 
S.W, "by the town street. He had two acres in the home meadows, bounded 
N,W, by Edward Btime; S.E, by the minister's meadow; S.W. by the broad bay 
and N.E, by the march (marsh?) pond and the beach. His one and one half 
acres on point Allerton was north of John Benson's running to the sea," 
On the Strawberry Hill he had three quarters of an acre, running to "the 
steep bank south;" one acre at Whitehead; lot number 10 on Sheep Island, 
and a lot on the north side Sagamore Hill; also four acres on the south 
side Peddockts Island, together with the little island adjoining, which 
still bears the name of "Prince's Head", 

The sponge of time has wiped out all those eld landmarks and "mere- 
steads* of the early settlers: their identity is gone, and it is no easy 



(16) 



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matter now to find the identical spot- to recognize the exact place of 
their old homes, fheir revered graves are likewise unknown; they occupied 
the eastern end of the old cemetery ground. It is not improbable that 
some of the old mutilated tomb-stones with inscriptions obliterated, 
some few fragments of which, at the present time but Just peep above the 
Surface of the ground, «ay possibly belong to the last resting place of 
some of those venerated fathers of Hull, 

Many of the primitive elders of the early church were remarkable 
men, A Harvard orator has lately said, "They shared the many toils of 
their townsmen as bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, for all were 
of one blood and one faith. They dwelt on the sajne brotherly level with 
them as men, yet set apart and above them by their superior education and 

their sacred office They were living lessons of piety, frugality, 

industry and tempereuice, " 

Let us recall to our mind's eye this Oxford student, this religious 
leader, gentleman and scholar, tolling up from the seashore with the rest 
of his neighbors bearing the burdens and harvest Just won from the depths 
of the ocean. All the idiotic pride of birth and station, the craving for 
adulation and slavish homage, if it ever existed, was washed out of him 
while crossing the oceem, but still his polished manners, his air of 
gentlemanly refinement remained. He was blest with an amiable wife of 
correct and saintly demeanor; they were fellow emigrants among the crowds 
who were hurrying to the New World, and love amd destiny brought them 
together. Recently his descendants have erected a raonument to his memory 



(17) 



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in the old Hull cemetery. 

As stated by the first family historian, Rev, Thomas Prince, all 
of Elder Prince's sons took to the sea. In the Mass, Archives from 1687 
to 1700 are foimd ntunerous records of clearances and arrivals of Oapt, 
Job Prince of the ship "James" of Boston; Capt, Thomas Prince of the "brig 
"fiolphin", of Boston; Sapt, Samuel Prince of sloop "Tryal" and of "Little 
Otis" and others; feapt, Joseph Prince and Capt, Isaac in the Naval Service. 

that all the boys "took to the sea" was the natural result of their 
STirroundings. ?rom childhood they were familiar with the ocean and the 
sailor's life, and the instinct thus planted in the fore-elders, descended 
from sire to son, the salt blood still flows in their descendants. Often 
it lures the village schoolboy from his desk, the farmer's son from his 
plow; the restless drop in his veins gives him no peace until he hai foimd 
his way to some seaport and flung himself upon the "same cradling bosom 
that rocked his euicestors," 

John Prince Jr. , the eldest son, was appointed by his father ex- 
ecutor of his will, the duties of which appear to have been creditably 
performed. He was baptized by Peter Hobart of Hingham, May 6, 1638; m. 
about 1672, Rebecca, supposed the daughter of Oeorge and Rebecca (Phippeny) 
Vickerow of Hull, Elder Prince's next neighbor on the west, She was a 
cousin to his brother Job Prince's wife, Rebecca Phippeny of Boston. The 
dwelling house of John Prince Jr. was on Marsh Lane; he died at Hull pre- 
vious to 1728, His children were Joseph, b. about 1675, who was on the 



(18) 



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list of the inhabitants of Boston, preceinct six, in 1695, John b, Nov, 
1, 1685, d. 1765- he settled at Barnstable and m. there, about 1714 
Reliance Fuller, b, 1691, dau, of John, grand dau. of Mathew, a son of 
the first Edward Puller,- their children were John Prince, b, Sept. 16, 
1716, Joseph Prince, Rebecca Prince, Samuel Prince, and Hanna Prince b. 
1738, fhe next child of John Prince Jr. was Rebaka, b. about 1687, m. 
Feb, 24, 1709, Jos. Benson of Hull; she had a daughter, Elizabeth b. Kay 
5, 1720, and twin boys, Benjamin and John, b. March 5, 17P4, both d. same 
year, also the mother March 9, 1724, fhe youngest child of John Jr. was 
Bxperiance, b. Jan, 11, 1689, m. Sept. 18, 1711, Benj. Benson of Boston, 
a carpenter; she had Benj, , b, 1712, and Sarah b. Feb, 15, 1715 (posthumous) 
Her husband died Oct. 1714, and she married (second time) John Coombs, 
Nov, I7I8. The Boston records give the marriage of "Experaince Coombs to 
John Poye of Boston, Oct. 20, 1747." <iuery- was this the third marriage 
of the above named Experiance? 

Bllzabeth Prince, baptized Aug. 9, 1640, d. May 13, 1727, m. July 
1662 Josiah Loring of Hingha-^, son of Thomas (first of Hingham then of 
Hull), he died Feb. 14, 1713. His will, dated July 26, 1712 (vol. IB, 
p. 62); his estate, value 726 pounds. His son Jona. of Boston executor, 
Their children were Jane, b. Aug, 9, 1663, m. Samuel Gifford, and had a 
son Josiah Sifford- settled in Sandwich; Josiah, born Nov, 22, 1665, d. 
before his father; Samuel, b. July 12, 1668, lived but six years. Job 
b, Feb. 26, 1670,- his father left him most of his real estate in Hing- 
ham; he afterwards settled in Rochester. Eliz, b. April 6, 1672, d. 



(19) 



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unmarried Jan, 1743. Johnathan b. April 24, 1674, settled in Boston, 
m, Elizabeth Austin of Charlestown; he was one of the selectmen from 1729 
to 1731 in company with Samuel Adams; he died without issue Oct. 15, 
1752,- will recorded vol. 47, p. 50. Josiah Loring of Hingham contributed 
to build the old Meeting House at Hingham in 1680, 3 pounds, 17 shillings 
and one pence. His wife's was the "fourth seate for the women in the 
body of the house." His own seat wa. "ye foreseate in ye gallery for men." 
His daughter Jane's was In "ye second seate in gallery for ye maids." 
His son, Josiah' s "ye seocond seate in ye gallery for young men." His oth- 
er children were too young to have "seates" assigned to them, 

Joseph Prince, bapt. Nov, 26, 1642, m. Dec. 7, 1670 Joanna, b. Nov. 
9, 1654, dau. of tec'y. Morton of Plymouth, He was a soldier on Phipps 
expedition to Port Royal in 1694, afterwards a prisoner of war at (Quebec, 
and d. there in 1695. their children were Joseph b. in 1671, d, 16'^4. 
Joanna, b. 1676, m. John Lathrop of Barnstable, Jan. 21, 1697, Lydia, b. 
1685, m. Bbin, Wibom, 1706. Mercy b. baout 1688. Their dwelling house 
was on Marsh Lane. The widow and children sold their property at Hull in 
1697, having moved to Boston. 

Martha Prince, bapt. Aug. 10, 1645, m. 1674 to Christopher fheaton 
of Hull, the fourth son of Robert and Alice of Salem. He was a soldier in 
the Indian War vmder Oapt, Johnson. He died at Hull March 20, 18^4, They 

had one son, Christopher, b. 1675, m. Sarah , d. at Hingham 1719, 

leaving three thildren: Shristopher, Josiah and Benjamin,- the latter 



(20) 



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liYed in Msndon, and died Axig, 12, 1726; he married Margaret 

was a cooper; had four children: Benjamin, who married Abigail Green 

in 1719, Daniel, David and Samuel who married Feb, 1718, and had a dau. , 

Mary, b. Oct. 1718, We have not been able to trace this family any 

farther. 

Job Prince, bapt, Aug. 22, 1647, m, 1678 Rebecca, daughter of 
Oaraaliel Phippeny, a blockmaker and shipowner of Boston. He bought the 
homestead property of the Phippeny heirs, The dwelling house was on Front 
it. bear the draw bridge over Mill Creek, He was Gaptain of the ship 
"James" of Boston, for many years; was lost in the English Ohamnel in 
1693, His estate was valued at 820 pounds; his widow administered. His 
children were Rebecca, b, 1679; Job, b. ROv. 1680, ( a goldsmith ), n. 
Deborah . d. at Milford in 1708, probably without issue; 

Sarah, b. Nov, 1686; Josiah b. ©ec, 5, 1688; Gamaliel, b. Nov, 1691, 
administered on his mother's estate in 1713; Mahi table, b. Sept. 23, 
1693, (posthumous), lived six months. The widow married second husband, 
Clark; she died 1713, We have not been able to trace this family any 
farther, 

iamuel Prince, bapt. Aug. 19, 1649, It is said that he was born in 
Boston while his mother was there on business. He m. Dec, 9, 1674, Martha 
Barstow, a dau, of his step mother; he lived at Hull in the easterly end 
of the homestead; he was a speculative, enterprising maji; he owned land in 
1677 at Shawmut Neck, Rehobeth, Taunton River, In 1680 he bought the 



(21) 



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portions of his father* s estate belonging to his brothers Thomas and 
sisters Elizabeth and Martha, He was master and owner of seTe>-al Vessels, 
His children by first wife were Samuel, b, *ept, 20, 1675; this son was 
master of the ship "Sandwich Flower", at the age of nineteen; he probably 
never married, Martha, b, March 15, 1678, m, Ezra bourne of Sandwich, 
John, Ann and Nathan, these last three all died young; their mother died 
at Hull ©ec, 1684. He married his second wife, Mercy, dau, of Oeo, Hink- 
ley, in 1686; moved to Sandwich in 1687; d, at Middlebora in 1728; his 
widow died in 1736, His children by second wife were, Rev, Thomas Prince, 
the distinguished scholar and pastor of Old South Church, Mary, Enoch, 
John, Joseph, the last three ship-masters; Moses, a doctor, Nathan, a 
distinguished clergyman; Mercy and Alice, There have been several accoxints 
published of this family. See Mass, Hist, Gen, »eg, , vol, 5th, 

Benj, Prince, bapt, April 25, 1652, died unmarried at Jamaica, 
W, I, , before his father. 

Isaac Prince, bapt, 4uly 9, 1654 (16557), m, 1679 Majry, dau, of 
John turner Sen, of Scituate; lived in Hull, on Marsh Lane, till about 
1700, then in Boston, where he died 1718; his wife d. 1738 aged eighty. 
He was a sea captain and also was in the military service in 1689. His 
deposition of cruel treatment under Gov, Andros is deposited in the Mass. 
Public Archives, His children were Aellp (Alice?), b, 1680; Isaac, b, 
1682; Blisha, b. 1684; Mary, b, 1685, m, Joseph Uould of Hull; Bavid, 
b, 1687, m, Eliza Gould; Jacob, b. 1690, James, b, 1692, Joseph, b. 1694, 



(22) 



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m, Mary Townsend of Boston, 1722; Baleb, b. 1695; ftuth, b. 1698; Onnor 
(Honor?), b, 1701, m, francis Loud of Wejmiouth, John J. Loud of WeTmouth 
and the late Hon, Jacob H, Loud are among her descendants. The Boston 
records contain many particulars relating to Isaax Prince's fsunily, John 
T, Prince of Joy St, has in manuscript quite a full record of their de- 
scendants. 

2. Thomas Prince, the yotingest of the nine children of Elder John, 
was bapt. Aug, 8, lj868, (Srake says that he was baptized Aug. 3rd. at 
Scituate; another writer says, born in Boston.) By his father's will he 
was given his freedom "at the end of the year seventy eight," Mar. 25, 
1679, New Style. In 1680 he sold his interest in his father's estate to 
his brother Samuel, and removed to Boston, where he was taxed in precinct 
seven, in 1686 to 1695, for "house and traid." He was a shipmaster, sail- 
ing from Boston until his death at Barbadoux in 1716 when his widow moved 
to Buxbury with her children, and married Israel Sylvester, emd by him 
had Ruth, Israel, Grace, the latter married Partridge in If 30, Oapt. 
fhomas Prince comiaanded the brig "Dolphin" , and other Boston vessels sail 
ing to Europe and the West Indies 19 years. He had married in 1685 Ruth / 
Turner, (adau. of John Turner Sr. of Scituate, a son of Humphrey Turner;. 
She was a sister to his brother Isaacs wife, Mary; her daughter was Mairy 
Brewster, dau, of Johnathan and grand dau. of Blder Brewster. Job, the 
youngest child was bom Aug. 1695, n. 1719, Abigail Kimball of Bridgewater 
who was bom in Boston, Jan. 2*, 1704; she was the daughter of Capt. Chris- 
topher and wife, Sarah Jolls, who were married by Cotton Mather, April, 



(23) 



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3, 1701, Oapt. Kimball d. on the Spanish Main about 1705; he wa.r, from 
Ipswich, probabljt descended from Richard Kembal and wife Versula who 
came over in the "Elizabeth in 1633, with sons, Henry, Richard, John, 
Thomas, eind settled at Ipswich where they had other children and numer- 
ous descendants. Sarah Jolls was the only dau, of 6apt. Thomas Jolls, 
a retired ship-master and merchant of Boston; in 1674 he was taxed ten 
shillings; he had four wives and four children by the first three; by 
Rebecca he had Thomas, b, April 25, 1672; by Abigaile he had Johnathan, 
b. March 21, 1674 euid probably a daughter Saraih (whose birth is not re- 
corded), perhaps b, in 1675; by his third wife Susanna he had Robert, 
b, June 2, 1677; his fourth wife and widow was Hannah, widow of Bapt, 
Samuel Winslow, who he married in 1681, by her he had no issue; they 
resided at her house in Black Horse Lane, now Prince it. Nos, 59-61, 
where he died in 1686; his widow resided there until 1714, Capt, Thos. 
Joll*3 estate was apprized at 566 pounds; his dau. Sarah inherited by 
will (rol. 11, p. 213) all the property of her breother Thomas, a ship- 
wright of New York who d. in 1696, which included a lot of land on 
Prince St. , now Nos, 60-62, opposite the widow Jolls, this lot she deeded 
to her brother Robert of Bridgewater, in 1706 and moved there with her 
two children, Christopher and Abigail, and in 1713 ra, Thomas Shurtlef, 
and had other children, 

3, Capt. Job Prince and wife, Abigail Kimball lived at Rocky Nook, 
Kingston, supposed in the house now occupied by Philip Washburn; he 
d. at Jamaica, W.I., of small pox, in 1734, leaving one daughter and 



(24) 






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4, Kimball Prince, the third son of Job and Abigail, b. May 9, 1796 , 
d. at Kingston, April 10, 1314, m. in 1749 Deborah ^ller, b. Bee. 25, 
1729, d. March 4, 1826, aged 97; she was a daughter of Dea. John Fuller 
and wife Deborah Sing, who lived in the Paunce House at Indian pond, 
Kingston burnt about five years ago. Dea. John Puller was bom Dec, 19, 
1698, d, Sept. 25, 1778, aged 80. He descended fro-n Dea, Br. Samuel 
Puller and wife Bridget Lee, of the Plymouth Pilgrims. His great gi»and 
daughter, Mrs. Mercy Cushman, of Indian Pond, who died Sec, 23, 1887 
aged 94 years, 9 months, left an old cradle brought from England by some 
of the "Mayflower" Pilgrims, It is claimed by the family to have been 
handed down from Dr. Samuel Fuller of the "Mayflower", to his great 
grandson, Dea, John Puller and his daughter, Deborah (Puller) Prince to 
her grand daughter, Mrs. Mercy (Prince) Cushman, its late owner, fhis 
old heirloom was on exhibition at the Centennial in 1876 at Philadelphia, 
there is still another almost a similar relic, almost a duplicate, also 
claimed as the "Puller" cradle, views of which have been printed in Old 
Colony publications. It is in possession of Mrs, Jacob Noyes, also a lin- 
eal descendant of Dr. Puller of the "Mayflower". It is not probable 
that both of these cradles are from Br, Puller's family; bat it is very 
singular that the only two "Mayflower" cradles that liave survived the 
crumbling touch of time are these treasured heirlooms in the possession 
of the lineal descendants of Dr. Samuel Puller and wife Bridget Le«. 

Kimball Prince on the death of his father, was, at nine years of 
age, put out by his mother to Johnathan Ring of Kingston, At 25 he 



(25) 



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m, a.niecs of his guardian. He was a member of the military company 
raised at Kingston in 1745, under Capt. Sylvanus Cobb, for the expedition 
against Louisburg, He was a farmer and perhaps a house-oarpenter, living 
at Indian Pond, Kingston, near his fatherlnlaw, Dea, John Puller, where 
all his children were bom. fhe house is gone and the place is now owned 
by Mr, dhurchill. It is presumed that Kimball Prince may have followed 
the sea at sometime during his life, from the fact that he is called a 
"mariner" in the record of his administration on his brother James estate, 
in 1759, (book 57, p. 110). He had six sons and three daughters, 

5, Job, b. 1765, a farmer, lived and died at Buckfield, Me. , 1331; m. 
in 1791 Hannah Bryant,- had nine children, 

6, The children of Job Prince and Hannah Bryant were Lydia, b. JaJi, 
21, 1792, d. Jan. 20, 1838, m, Daniel Young; Rebecca, b. May 2, 1793, 

m, Daniel Pond; Job , b. March 17, 1795, m. Xelpha Spaulding, b. at Buck- 
field, Me,, July 25, 1799, d. at Turner, Me., Jan. 30, 1344, and Olive 
Leav4tt; Noah, b. April 13, 1797, m. Sarah Parrer; Hannah, b. Aug. 17, 
1799, m. Ezra Morton and Eliphelet dturdevent; Rufus , b. *ept. 24, 1901, 
m. Sophia Brewster; Olive, b. Jan. 21, 1304, m, Abel Stetson; Louisa, b. 
Feb, 27, 1306, m, Peter Bailey, and George Bates; Ardelia, b. Aug. 24, 
1309, m, William R. Hersey. 

It is an interesting fact to the descendants of Kimball and Debor- 
ah Prince, that the blood of more than forty of the original Puritan and 
Pilgrim fathers is flowing in their veins, fe are not aware that any pre- 
vious effort has been made to trace back the record to those original 



(26) 



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first-comers and we shall not be guilty of tresspassing on the field of 
any other writer in publishing the result of our efforts in tracing back 
that lineage through all the various male and female branches. 

We have been greatly assisted by Gapt, Cilley, U.S.N, I give result 
of our researches in as brief and comprehensive a manner as my space will 
permit. The foreign born or original emigrants, all of whom were English, 
are designated by a star:- 

Blder John Prince* and wife Alice Honor^t, Blder William Brewster* 
and wife Mairy*, son Johnathan* and wife Lucre tia», and daughter Mary, 
Humphrey Turner* and wife Lydia Oainer* and their son John ^r,^ of ^cit- 
uate who married Mary Brewster and their daughter Ruth, who Married Gapt, 
thomas Prince of Hull: Richard Kembel* and wife Versula*, and, perhaps, 
son Richard* of Ipswich, who I assume to be the father of Capt, Shristo- 
phor Kimball who was born in Ipswich; Capt, Thomas Jolls* and wife Abi- 
gails* of Boston were the parents of Sarah, wife of fihristopher Kimball, 
whose daughter Abigai m. Capt. Job Prince of Kingston, the fatherof Kim- 
ball Prince, who married Deborah fuller, the dau, of Deacon John Fuller 
and wife Deborah Ring. Deborah I^iller's pedigree we trace back to twenty 
six of the original Plymouth Pilgrims, viz: Dr, Samuel Fuller* of the 
Mayflower and his wife Bridgett Lee*; the four of the Blder Brewsters**** 
family whose blood again mingles in the Prince family: Dr. Fuller's son, 
the Rev, S-muel of Middleboro, b. 1623, d, Aug. 17, 1694, m. in 1656 
Elizabeth, a dau. of Johnathan and Lucre tia Brewster, she was a sistor 
to Mary Brewster, the wife of John Turner Sr. The Rev. Samuel Puller's 



(27) 



son Samuel of Plympton, ra, in 1686 Mercy Eaton; Sea, John P'uller of 
Kingston, b, 1698, who m, Behorah Ring in 17P3, was their son, Beborah 
Ring, b. 1698, d. 1763, was the daughter of Eloazer Ring and wife Vary 
Shaw who had twelve children, Bleazer ^ing, b, 1650, m, 1687, vras the son 
of Andrew Ring> and wife Deborah Hopkins. Andrew, b, 1617, d. 1692, m, 
1646, came ove with a brother and a sister and his mother* in 1628, (no 
mention of his father); he had five children and was one of the first set- 
tlers of Middleboro; he had a second wife, widow Lettys Mourton. Beborah 
Hopkins, b, 1622 was the dau, of Stephen Hopkins* and wife Elizabeth*, 
who came in 1620, Mary Shaw, b. in 1666, d, 1730, wife of Bleazer Ring, 
was the dau, of Johnathan Shaw*, v/ho married in 1657 Pheba Watson, a dauj- 
of George Watson* and wife Pheba Hicks* and a grand dau. of Robert Watson* 
and wife, Elizabeth* who came with their son 3eorge in 1625, Pheba (Hicks) 
Watson came with her father Robert Hicks* and mother Margaret* in 1621 
and *23, Johnathan Shaw was the son of John Shaw* and wife Alice*, who 
came before 1627, with Jona, and three other children, Mercy (Eaton) 
Fuller, wife of Samuil Fuller of Plympton descended from Francis Eaton* 
and wife Sarah* who came in 1620, with son Samue^*, a nursing child, 
Francis, who died 1633, had three wives; his last wife. Christian Penn*, 
he married in 1626; she came in 1623; she married second time Francis Bil- 
lington* in 1634, who came in 1620, with his parents John* and Eleanor* 
and his brother John, Francis was one of the original purchasers and set- 
tlers of Middleboro; he had a daughter Martha and eight other children: 
Martha, b, 1638, d, 1684, m, in 1661 Samuel Baton, her mother»s step-son; 



(28) 



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they had a daughter Mercy, who m. Samuel PSiller, son of Rev. Samuel duller 
of Middlet>oro,- also a son Samuel who m. Elizabeth Puller, a sister to his 
sister Mercjr's husband, 

6, Job Prince, b, Buckfield, Me. March 17, 1795, m, Zilpha Spaulding 
May 21, 1821, d. April SB, 1875 at Turner Me. She d. Turner, Me. Jan. 30 
1846. Children, Leonard, who died without issue; Rufus , b. July 11, 1825, 
d. ; Ezra Morton, b. May 27, 1831 and, 

7, Zilpha Margaret, b, Jan, 20, 1836, m, Robert C, Thayer, May 12, 
1871 at Turner, Me. , d, at Benton Harbor, Mich, June 9, 1893, 

fHE WARRENS. 

1. James Warren, a native of Berwick, Scotland, was settled at South 
Berwick, Me. as early as 1656. His wife was Margaret, a native of Ireland, 
Their children were Gilbert, who left no issue, Margaret, who married 
James Stackpole before 1680, Jane, James and Orizzle, who married Richard 
Otis of Dover, N, H, and was captured by the Indians and carried to Canada. 

2. James married Mary — — '- and had children, Mary, Margaret, James, 
Rachael, Gilbert and John, 

3. John, b. Dee. 16, 1705, m. Mary, daughter of Moses and Abigail 
Godwin in S. Beirwick. His will was probated Jan, 1769, It mentions children 
John, Tristram, Nathaniel, Ichabod, Pelatiah, Keslah, Margaret and Mary. 



(29) 



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4, John b, in Berwick, Me. March 5, 1731, a "blacksmith by trade, 
settled in Falmouth, m. Bee, 25, 1755 Jane Johnson, She was b. in Ireland 
June 15, 1740 and d, Nov, 25, 1809. She belonged to a Scarborough family. 
Her grand father was James Johnson, who was b, in Scotland and removed to 
Ireland about 1692 and died at Scarboro, Me, 1746, c very old man, ftapt, 
John Warren was called the "old lumber king." He d. Jan, 30, 1807. They had 
twelve children of whom Margaret wa* the eighth, 

5, Margaret, b. Jan. 11, 1774, m. Capt. Leonard Spaulding of Buck- 
field, Me. 

6, Zilpha, b. July 25, 1791 at Buckfield, Me, married Job Prince, May 
21, 1821 and d, at Turner, Me. Jan. 30, 1856, They had four children, 
Leonard, Hufus, Ezra Morton, Zilpha asid Margaret, 

THE THAYERS . 

1, Robert Gushing Thayer was b, at Turner, Me, Sept, 25, 1333 and m, 
Zilpha Prince at Turner, Me, May 12, 1871, Their children were Zilpha, 

b, at Turner, Me, Aug. 19, 1872, d. at Benton Harbor, Mich. Aug, 31, 1374 
and Paul Thayer, b, at Benton Harbor, Mich, Oct. 16, 1875, 

2, Paul Thayer, b, ct, 16, 1*^75, m. Bora E, Robinson at Benton Harbor 
Mich. June 28, 1900, She was b. at Buchanan, Mich. May 10, 1377. 



(30) 



n 



THE PRINCES . 

Job Prince, the fifth in descent from Blder John Prince, the 
founder of the family in this country, was bom in Kingston, Mass. in 
1765, He was one of the pioneers of Buckfield, Me. to which place he moved 
in 1788 and improved a farm of about 100 acres. The deed to this farm bears 
date of 1788. 

He was a man of substance and character, a deacon in the Baptist 
IShurch. Two anecdoted related by my father illustrate the religious and 
drinking habits of the time. *hen my father was about eighteen, he went to 
work for a time for a neighbor, Mr, Parrar, also a deacon in the Baptist 
church. Sunday morning he took a dish of salt and started for the pasture 
but was halted by Deacon Parrar who inquired where he was going. Father 
replied that he was going to salt the cattle as he did eveiry Suday morn- 
ing when he was at home but Beacon Parrar told him to put the salt up as 
he never allowed the cattle to be salted on Sxmday. 

These were also the days of militia musters and universal drinking 
habits. No ceremony from the installation of the minister, to the election 
of the militia officers, was held without plentiful libations of New 
Sngland rum which was as much a part of a laborer's rations as is coffee 
now. When my father was nineteen, the militia company to which he belonged, 
elected a captain, who from penuriousness and not from any conscientious 
scruples, neglected to furnish the customary treat. But my father said 
that the company should not lose the customary entertainment, bought a 
gallon of rum and the company had their usual election frolic and declared 



(31) 



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that at the next vacancy they would elect father captain, A vacancy soon 
occurred and the election was held at White's -l^avem. These elections 
were attended by all the men of the community whether they belonged to the 
company or not. After dinner, as Beacon Parrar was on the way, he saw my 
grandfather. Beacon Prince, and insisted on his going, saying, "Come 
D«ac-in, you must go, we are going to elect Job captain," So the two deacons 
went to the election where father was duly elected and the usual treat 
followed. In fromt of the tavern was a triangular piece of ground made 
by three roads called a "heater piece*, and in the center of this was a 
large elm tree with wide spreading brances, around which the old men, the 
magnates of the town, gathered and a jug was passed around the circle. In 
this circle of reverend revellers were Beacon Parrar and Deacon Prince as 
well as my maternal grandfather, Capt, Leonard Spaulding, At the same time 
another jug was in use by the rest of the crowd. Father was subsequently 
elected Major, by which title he was usually called until he was elected 
judge of probate after which he was usually called Judge Prince, ^ring 
the War of 1812. he served as Private in ©apt. Blake»s Co, of Mass, Militia 
from 8ept, 25th, to Nov, 6th, 1814 at Palmouth, now Portland, Me. , for 
which he received a pension in the later years of his life. 

On the death of my grandfather Prince in 1831, his son, Noah, suo- 
eoeded to the home place, my grandmother Prince living with him, I reiiera- 
ber visiting them when I was about twelve years old, walking from Turner 
to Buckfield, a distance of about ten miles, with my cousin, Oeorge Bates. 
I remember the old lady with her neat widow's cap and white kerchief 
folded over her bosom and the white bread and honey to which she treated 



(32) 



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us. Among the most highly prized wedding gifts of my son Leonard was a 
linen towel made of flax raised on the old home farm by my uncle Noah and 
his wife "Aunt Sarah", spun and woven and presented "by their daughter, 
my cousin Ardelia, My grandmother Prince died at Buckfield, Me. 

My father, also named Job, was born at Buckfield, Me, March 17, 
1795, He received the usual schooling of a frontier farming town and es- 
pecially a very thorough knowledge of the Bible. He was a stalwart man 
six feet tall in his stocking feet, weighing two hundred pounds, all bone 
and muscle, dark grey eyes, brown hair, a man that others instinctively 
obeyed. I have a sword cane that he took from a desperado who drew the 
long dagger sword blade and threatened to kill anyone who should dare to 
arrest him. The town constable being afraid to anrest the man, summoned 
father as a posse comitatus to arrest him, To father's demand, the nzfflan 
yielded immediate obedience and gave up his weapon which father kept and 
on his death-bed it was given to me. My son Leonard had much of that same 
obedience compelling power. 

My father taught school several winters and was a very successful 
teacher, having in a high degree the power of imparting knowledge, stim- 
ulating his pupils to their best efforts as well as enforcing order so 
essential tb those early schools. He married Zilpha, the daughter of Capt, 
Leonard Spaulding of Buckfield, June 28, 1821 and moved to Tuimer, some 
ten miles distant from his old home. They lived with and took care of his 
uncle, Stephen Bryant, his mother's brother. Father cleared up and put into 
cultivation a large farm and erected a large two-otory farm house and large 
stables, farms and out-bxxildings and became one of the most prosperous 



(33) 



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farmers in the town. Here five children were "bom to them, Leonard was a 
successful merchant at finthrop. Me. and died there a young man, Rufus, 
who succeeded my father on the home place, the writer, Ezra Morton, the 
sole survivor of the family and 2llpha M. who married Robert C, Thayer 
and died at Benton Harbor, Mich. June 9, 1893, 

My father "by his IntelligBnee, integrity and force of character, 
soon became the leading man of the town. He attended to most of the con- 
veyancing, making deeds, mortgages, contracts, wills, administered upon 
estates, made surveys, was the usiial referee to whom the Supreme Court of 
the State, under the M4ine practice, referred cases eurising in burner and 
neighboring towns that were arbitrated. In all Turner litigation he was 
sure to be retained by one side or the other and finally for convenience 
he was admitted to the bar but never practiced as a lawyer except before 
the justice courts though he had a more thorough knowledge of the law than 
many practicing lawyers. 

He was §ounty eommissioner from Oxford bounty from 1833 to 1838, 
serving the last three years as Ohairman of the Board. He was also Judge 
of Probate of Oxford bounty from 1846 to 1852. He was one of the best pre- 
siding officers in the state, a thorough parliamentarian, clear, quiek 
and prompt in his rulings, impartial and dignified, his decisions won 
Immediate respect and obedience. He was nearly always moderator of the 
turner town meetings. He was senator in the legislatures of 1838, 1839 
and 1854. In 1839 he was president of the Senate. He was a member of the 
Council, an advisory board of the governor, in 1860, He was a democrat 



(34) 



until the rise of the great anti-slarery contest. He was a warm personal 
and polltleal friend of the Hon, Hannibal Hamlin, for seyeral years prior 
to the repeal of the Missouri Clompromise in 1854, Hamlin and ffillaim Pitt 
Fessenden were the recognized whig and denocratie leaders Ib Maine, In 
1855 the Untied States Senators from Maine were Hamlin and James w. Brad- 
"biiry, Hamlin opposed and Bradhury supported the pro-slavery course of the 
administration. In 1855 the legislature chose the successor of Bradbury, 
who was the candidate of the administration to succeed himself. My father 
was a member of the state senate, Fessenden was the nominee of the Whigs, 
The anti-slarery democrats held the balance of power. They came to mj 
father and said to him, "Judge Prince, you are one of the old aembers of 
the legislature; we don»t like Bradbury's course in regard to slavery, 
we nuch prefer that of Mr, fessenden but he is a Whig whom we have "been 
fighting all our lives. We have full confidence in your Judgment and will 
YOte as you say," Father replied that he did not want to advise them, 
that every man ought to follow his conscience and his Judgment, that as 
for himself, he could not conscientiously support Bradbury but he should 
vote for Fessenden, The other free-«oil democrats followed him and Fessen- 
den was elected and fro« that time until his death my father was one of 
the most trusted republicans in the state. 

ZILPHA SPAULDINQ PRINCE, 

I remember very little of my mother. Her education was that of the 
children of the prosperous pioneers of Maine, She was naturally delicate 



(35) 



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and died of eonsmaptlon in the 45th, year of her age. She was sick three 
years and bore her suffering with uncomplaining fortitude. The picture of 
her that is most virid in ay mind is her last attendance at the Universal- 
ist Church at turner, shortly "before her death, it was eonununion Sunday 
and knowing the end was near she desired to attend to partake once more of 
the mystic elements, the pledge of her love to 9od and faith in immor- 
tal life. She was then very feeble and father carried her in his arms to 
the sleigh and from that into the church, I remember that she wore a green 
silk hood. She was very amiable and even tempered in her disposition. My 
father's sister, Rebecca, a cripple, lived most of the time with my father, 
I remember hearing her say after my mother's death, "I should have liked 
to have lived always with Job if iilpha had lived," 

My brother Leonard was a druggist at finthrop. Me, , and after he 
had successfully established himself and was about to be married, died of 
fever and was buried at fumer. 

My brother Rufus succeeded to my father's business and home farm 
and was very successful as a public man and farmer. He married Tabitha 
Jones and had five children Stella and Iilpha, who are successful merchants 
at Norway, Me,, Alice M, Haskell, who died without issue, Carl and Job, 
both married and farmers, Carl on the home place and Job on an adjoining 
farm, 

EZRA. MORTON PRINCB. 
The writer was bom at Turner, Me. , May 27, lfl3l. I was a cripple 
from ray birth, my right leg beint; shorter and smaller than my left. For 

(36) 



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that raason, perhaps, I was designed for professional life, I vas educated 
at our common schools and fitted for college at Hebron, Me. Academy and 
entered Bowdoin college in 1851 and left at the close of the fall term of 
1853, I then studted law a year with Washington Oilbert, a most excellent 
lawyer of Bath, Me, and in the fall of 1854 entered the law school of 
Harvard College where I remained a year and was then admitted to the bar 
and in April 1856 came to Bloomington, Illinois where I have ever since 
lived. 

While going to school I taught several terms in the common schools 
and High School of Turner, the only public offices I have ever held were 
four years as Master in Chancery of McLeem Oounty and two years as a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education of Bloomington, Like my father before me I 
have been a member of the Republicsin party ever since its organization. My 
father though reared in the Baptist Ghurch, in his early manhood becaiae a 
Universalist and I was educated in that faith. In 1859 the Free Congrega- 
tionalist Society ^ now the Unitarian Bhurch of Bloomington was organized. 
Of that church I have been a member and a constant attendant from its 
organization to the present time. Its reverent reasonableness commends 
itself to my Judgment and conscience, 

I have not aoouTnulated much of this world's goods but find much 
of my happiness in ray family and in my books, 

I have been one of the officers of the Bloomington Library Asso- 
ciation from its incorporation in 18 to the present time and was one 



(37) 



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of the fcninders of the Law Library of Bloomington and was for several 
years a teacher in the Illinois fesleyan Law School. I was also one of the 
organizers of the McLean County Historical Society and have been its sec- 
retary from its foiindii^ in March 1892 and have edited its two yolumes 
already issued, 

I was married at Pittsfield, Illinois, July 2, 1866 to Barbara 
Maria Miller , I'here have been bom to us at Bloomington, Illinois five 
children, Leonard Morton, May 4, 1867 who died at the Presbyteriem Hos- 
pital at Chicago, Nov. 1, 1895; Robert ^hayer, born Dec. 10, 1868; Bmily 
Grace, bom feb. 7, 1871, died May 31, 1872; Bdward Percy, bom Becember 
5, 1874 and Horace Free, bom October 4, 1880. 

LEONARD MORTON PRINCE. 

Leonard Morton Prince, the son of Ezra vorton sind Barbara M. Prince, 
was bom at Bloomington, 111. May 4, 1867. from his birth he was a lusty 
child, fond of outdoor life, vigorous, self-reliant and masterful, gener- 
ous to a fault, ewerybody's favorite. He was very fond of books and grad- 
uated from the ward schools at the age of twelve. He was also a graduate 
of the Illinois State Normal University High School of which school Prof. 
James was principal, now president of Northwestern University at Svanston. 
He also attended the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Penn- 
sylvania one year and the Illinois fesleyan University one year and taught 
two years with great success. 

He was appointed a cadet at the West Point Military Academy in th« 



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winter of 1888 and. on a competitive examination of a class of sixteen 
lead the class and thus seetired the appointment aund reported there in June 
1899. He at once became the leader of his class, especially in all mili- 
tary and social matters and was successively, lance corporal, sergeant, 
oaptain and hop manager of his class. He never got into any quarrel on his 
own account, but an upper classman having imposed upon his tent mate, 
Anderson, who was of a frail physique, Leonard challenged the upper class- 
man to meet him the next morning at daybreak behinfl the qtiarterraaster*s 
barracks and settle the dispute with their bare fists, that being the 
usual method of settling all quarrels. His opponent was an older sind a 
larger man than Leonard but he was so badly whipped that he had to go to 
the hospital and Leonard hardly had a scratch. He introduced foot ball and 
other athletics at West Point and was on the foot ball team that beat the 
Middies in the fall of 1892, In that ga^e while making a hard tackle he had 
two ribs broken suid was obliged to retire from the game but attended the 
ball that night for fear the lady he had invited would otherwise not have 
a good time. 

His class mate, Anderson, says, "I never knew Leonard to be angry 
but once while I was at West Point. ?hat occurred on one his birthdays 
when some tWdnty cadets seized him, held him on his head and poured water 
down his legs. When they released him Leonard knocked them down right and 
left as if they were children. Whenever he attempted anything with his class 
he always succeeded. His magnetis-n carried everything before him and he 
was absolutely without fear. He was a great favorite with Col. Wilson 



(39) 



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the Superintendent of the Academy, who often consulted him about matters 
mt the academy more so than he did with many of the professors. He was a 
generous man caring little for money for its own sake and he was always 
helping someone out of difficulties and was always a great favorite with 
the ladies "but if at the hops there was some peculiarly unattractive girl 
present, a wall flower, homely and a poor dancer he would be sure to take 
her out and after a ten minutes dance return her to her seat a happy girl 
thinking she was the queen of the hall," 

He graduated in June 1893 and was assigned as second lieutenant to 
Co, H, Second U.S. Infantry at Port Omaha, Neh. His Captain and First Lieu- 
tenant were both absent from the regiment and he was put in command of his 
company, some of whom had been in the service for thirty years but he was 
soon master of the situation and was one of the most popular and efficient 
officers in the regiment. While at Port Omaha a regimental gymnasium was 
established and Leonard was put in charge of it, planned it and devised the 
exercises for the enlisted men which were obligatory upon them. 

In the winter of 1894—5 he injured his left side in the gjrmnasium. 
In April he came home sick on a furlough but returned to duty after a two 
weeks stay. In August he went to his Uncle's Robert C, Thayer at Benton 
Harbor, but about the first of September returned in very poor health, 
sviffering great pain on the left side, finding no relief, about the first 
of October he went to the Presbyterian Hospital and put himself U'^der the 
care of Sr, Nicholas Senn, one of the most distingutihed sxirgeons in tbe 
United States, who operated upon him for a cancerous tumor on the left 



(40) 



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kidney but the disease proved fatal and he died Nov. 1, 1895, 

He was very versatile, a quick, ready and eloquent speaker, During 
his two years of army life he had devoted much of Ikls time to free-band 
drawing in which he had "become quite proficient. He also wrote stories of 
army life at which he was very successful, General Brooke, the Commander 
of the Omaha post said he was the most promising yoimg officer in the arrry, 
©apt, Abercrombie of his regiment came to Chicago to see him a few days 
before his death and told me that from the tlmo Leonard Joined the regiment 
he was greatly attracted to him, that he never loved any man as he did him, 
that he felt that in the emergency of a soldier's life he could implicitly 
rely upon hin and I know of no greater compliment that can be paid to any 
man than that he has such a steadfast reliability, indomitable courage, 
mental alertness and immovable self possession in time of danger that he 
will do the wisest, best and bravest thing. 

He bore the long sickness and the surgical operation with indomitable 
courage, never complaining, notwithstanding the long torture of his fierce 
disorder. Many and many a nigh I talked with him all night long, he say- 
ing, "Father, you must talk to me or I can not bear the pain." One night 
after he had taken morphine to ease the pain, the physician told Mrs, 
Rinehart, who was sitting up with him that he might say something that she 
might not care to hear but instead he soon broke out in that grand hfnrn 
of Julia Ward Hove, "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory of the Coming of the 
Lord." After singing it all through he repeated the Lord's Prayer, 

November 15, 1894 he was married to Katherine, the daughter of Wr, 



(41) 



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and Mrs, Abraham N, Rinehart at Bloomington and Sept, 15, 1895, their 
son, named after his father was bom. His father thought that there was 
no such school in the United States as the Military Academy at West Point 
and it was his earnest desire that his son should also attend the academy, 

Robert Thayer was educated in the common schools of Bloomington 
and at the Illinois State Normal University, He spent seve al years in 
Dakota and Montana and was a Corporal of Co. B, 1st, 111, Cavalry during 
the Spanish-American War and is now in Oklahoma, 

Edward Percy Prince was educated at the city schools, is a graduate 
of the High School Department of the Illinois State Normal University of 
the class of '96, He spent a year at the University of Chicago, one yeer 
in a surveyor's office and graduated from the law school of the Illinois 
lesleyan University in June 1902. 

Horace Free Prince graduated from the Bloomington High School in 
1900 and is now at home, 

ZILPHA PRINCE THAYER . 

My sister Zilpha was said to look much like her mother and to have 
resembled her much in character. She inherited from her mother a deli- 
cate constitution. She was a good scholar, attended our ^rner district 
and high schools as well as several terms at Westbrook Seminary, a high 
grade ladies school conducted under the auspices of the Universalist 
denomination near Portland, Maine. She was quick, bright, amiable and 
affectionate, the life of every company of which she was a part. Like her 



(42) 



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■other she was always delicate and never robust, ^fter she moved to Mich- 
igan during the fruit season she was much out-doors packing fruit and 
remained in fair health until near her death. She was greatly beloved not 
only by her relatives but by all who knew her. Her funeral was conducted 
by the minister of the Universal ist llhurch Cf Benton Harbor. The services 
were held under the trees in the yard of her home which she had done so 
much to beautify and adorn, 

THE SPALDINGS , 

My grandfather on my mother's side was Capt, Leonard Spalding who 
was of English descent. He was the first settler of Buckfield, Maine, a 
farmer, owning a large farm and mills at Spalding's Mills at Buckfield. 
He was a large athletic man, delighted in breaking wild horsec, and all 
work requiring skill and strength. His wife, Peggy or Margaret Warren, 
was a large, handsome, nob^e looking woman, I remember very well visiting 
grandfather Spaldings. Their house was a large commodious, story and a 
half house on a little knoll on the banks of the river with a southern 
front for parlor and sitting room and back of them an L, a large kitchen, 
each of them with large fire places, the parlor and sitting room with their 
brass mounted dogs, tongs and shovel and the kitchen with its big crane 
and chimney and blac^cened pots, the bright tins and pewter plates with the 
alphabet in raised letter around its rim. In front of the houre grandmother 
had her beds of old fashioned flowers, and altogether the strong rugged 
old gentleman and stately old lady and their warn sunny house and the 



(43) 



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blazing fires of oak, ash and birch in the parlor sitting room and 
kitchen made a very pleasant picture in ray mind's eye. Of my grandmother 
Spalding's family, the Warrens, I know very little except that I always 
understood that she belonged to a well to do, rather aristocratic family, 
which her appearance certainly indicated, 

ROBERT GUSHING THAYER . 

Mr, Thayer is a native of Turner, Maine, a Puritan in descent, 
lioth on his paternal and maternal lines. He is a typical Yankee, broad- 
ened by western life and ideas. He was educated in the public district 
schools and the High School of furner but the best of the education of 
his youth was that of his home, the pure, self-restrained, Ood-fearing, 
Ood-worshipping, Calvanistic, Puritan life, which, though stem externally, 
was at its center loving and sweet, dominated by a love of right and right- 
eousness. In such an atmosphere he developed in morals and intelligence. 
The outdoor life of the farm gave him a stalwart body which has been 
strengthened by life long temperance and correct living, 

the great rebellion stirred all the martial spirit inherited from 
his Puritan roundhead ancestors. He was a Republican in politics and to 
hate slavery and love freedom was m part of his religion, D-^der the first 
call for 75,000 men for three months he enlisted in the Lewiston Light 
Infantry, Co, P, i'irst Maine Infantry, They were mustered into the service 
May 3, 1861 and proceeded to Washington where they did guard duty, return- 
ing 



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home early in August. They were glYen a gorgeous reception with an elegant 
dinner at the Bewitt House and a patriotic address "by William P, Frye , new 
presiding officer of the United States Senate, 

Decem"ber 12, 1861, he enlisted with Lieut, Venderbilt in Co, A, 
Sappers and Miners to be attached to the Corps of Topographical Engineers 
U.S.A. They were soon consolidated with the engineers and were assigned to 
B. Co, of the U.S. Engineers with which he served until his discharge, 
Oct. 22, 1862. He was peculiarly fitted for this service , "by his strength, 
activity, sobriety, courage, and especially by his skill in handling all 
sorts of tools, A part of his service was at the Military Academy at West 
Point but his company was sent with McOlellans army to the Peninsula 
where he had plenty of digging at Yorktown and plenty of bridge building 
in the fehickahominy sweunps. The exposure and hardships of the campaign 
broke down even his rugged health and constitution and he was sent to the 
hospital at Alexandria Sept, 1, 1862 and was honorably discharged Oct, 22, 
1862 as no longer fit for the arduous duties of a military life. Ee re- 
turned home and having regained somewhat of his former health he entered 
the civil service of the United States as foreman in various government 
works, remaining in this employment for several years until he moved to 
Michigan, While in this employment he worked on Port Warren in Boston 
Harbor, Port Preble in Portland Harbor, in the river imprcverrent at 
Oherryfield, Maine and other places. In the meantime he had married Miss 
Beborah Whitman, a daughter of Luther Whitman of Turner, Maine, She died 
in a few years and May 12, 1871 he married at Turner, Maine, lilpha 



(45) 



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Margaret, daughter of Job and Zllpha Spaulding Prince. There, their first 
child Zilpha, aptly called "Sunshine", was "bom, foellng the necessity of 
securing a permanent home for his family ^ nd led ty the enthusiastic de- 
scriptions of the fruit regions of western Michigan puhlished in the New 
York Tribune, in 1872 he went to St. Joseph, Michigan and after examining 
many places bought the homestead where he has ever since resided at the 
jxmction of §olfax and Nickerson avenues in what is now known as the "Pair 
Plain" district, as it has proved the best in all that region. 

They moved there in 187 , The farm was very much run down but both 
Mr, Thayer and his wife attacked the situation with energy and intellio;ence 
inquiring and studying and seeking the best methods and soon it became 
known as one of the best and is now the model fruit farm of that region. 
Honest fruit and honest measure from top to bottom is the invariable rule 
and practice. 

The death of little Sunshine in the summer of 1874 was the great 
sorrow of their lives. She was a child of much beauty and promise, 

Mr, fhayer has taken a prominent part in the Grajige and Grand Army 
circles, in educational matters and social affairs of the Pair Plain neigh- 
borhood, and has been elected Justice of the Peace, a position for which 
his sense of justice and intelligence eminently fit him. As son, citizen, 
soldier of the Union, htksband, father and neighbor, he has lived up to the 
full measure of his opportunities. If you, my dear Paul, can do as well, 
your children and children's children shall rise up and bless your name. 

With advancing years, Mr. Thayer has been obliged to give up much 



(46) 



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of the hard labor of the farm but fortimately is able to retain the active 
supervision of it. 

He was married to Celia Barker Oct. 3, 1894, iho was bom at Mich- 
igan City, Indiana, May 23, 1864, a very noble woman whom I hope you and 
yours will always respect and love for her care and devotion to your 
father as well as for her sterling qualities of heart and mind. 



(47) 



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K. M. I'^^OK, 

ATTORMKr AT I^A* 



ni.OOMINTJTON. Il.I... 

/. Edward Fpaldinji, 

Carae from England to Virp;in?.a in 1619. Moved to Brav'.trs: 
Mass. about 1531. I.!ade a freeman of the town May IZ- , 16 'iO; 
was cne of the founciers of Clieinu-f o -d Xaes in lo53. 

^. Andrew 

uorn Nov. 19, 1GJ2, died May 5, 1^15. Succeeded y the 
will of hi£ father to the p--.ternal et:tatei deacon in chrrch; 
married tra .. ah Jefiers. 



3- Henry, 
Born Nov. 2, 1680 at Chelmsfo>-d, died Ai-.-^il 4, l'^20. 

!Tiar>-ied Elizaheth Lund. 



^ Leonard 
Born at Chelmsford Dec. 1, 1713; ct-i ed Feh . 17o3. M^.rried 
Elizaheth -- . She (lied in Bu.ckfield 'le . 1799. Dr. K^ekiel 
Chase, second huBband. 

S Benjamin, 
Born Chelmsford Feb. u, l'^3S>»-9. Made first improvements 
in tov/n o! Buckfield Me- died there Oct. 14, 1611. }Tar'-ied 
Patty Barrett of Chelmfiford Ma^s. Nov. 29, l'^o4. She was 
born Jan. 31, 1740; ,iied Oct. 4, 1819. . 

Roll of those v/ho marched to Cnabridf-e April I'^Sp 
Benjamin of Chelmsford in Capt. Oliver Baron's Co. also i.. 
service' three months from Aug. 16, 1731 ?n Capt. Samuel 
Fays C(j. to reirifo?-ce Continental army. 



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